Period Movies
General Discussion
As a personal suggestion, relating to language and private affairs more than to Court life ( but they were connected) I would strongly recommend the book "No Tomorrow", by Vivant Denon, translated by Lydia Davis in the paperback New York Review Books Classics edition( see Amazon for instance). Many reasons for this choice:
-It is a short story rather than a novel ( some 35 pages)
-Therefore the editor included both original French text and English translation: though translation is always a treason, thelatterseems to me, as far as I can judge, quite good and loyal, as close to the original French style as possible, both for meaning and musicality of language.
- This book has two main interests, in my opinion: it is one of the best exponents of the French rococo 18th century elegance of speech and language, at its peak. Secondly, it shows with grace and charm what I would call the mainstream libido of the upper classes in Enlightenment days, much better than a great book like Les Liaisons Dangereuses, which explores rather its fringes and darker, evil sides.
-It is not a demonstrative book: the author does not impose on the reader any personal views, morals or conclusions. It introduces us to an irresistible attraction and seduction game, typical of these times, between men and women. A game in which refined spoken language and body language are interacting. A game dedicated to mutual pleasure and sensuality on the spur of the moment, with No Tomorrow.
Three quotes here, to tease (hopefully) potential readersJ
- I was desperately in love with the Comtesse de ***; I was twenty years old and I was naive. She deceived me, I got angry, she left me. As I was naive, I missed her. As I was twenty years old, she forgave me, and, because I was twenty years old, because I was naive still deceived, but no longer abandoned I thought myself to be the best-loved lover, and therefore the happiest of men.
- Kisses are like confidences: they attract each other, they accelerate each other, they excite each other. In fact, I had barely received the first kiss when a second followed upon its heels, and then another: their pace quickened, interrupting and then replacing the conversation. Soon they scarcely left us time to sigh. Silence fell all around us. We heard it (for one sometimes hears silence), and we were frightened. We stood up without saying a word and began to walk again.
- When lovers are too ardent, they are less refined. Racing toward climax, they overlook the preliminary pleasures; they tear at a knot, shred a piece of gauze. Lust leaves its traces everywhere and soon the idol resembles a victim
PS: Dominique Vivant-Denon ( 1747-1825) was a baron and a man of many gifts and talents. His career as a diplomat, beginning under Louis XV and continued under Louis XVI reigns, brought him to Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and Italy, and later in Egypt with Napoleon Bonaparte. He published travelogues, and became an excellent draughtsman and engraver. He wrote Point de Lendemain (No Tomorrow), his only fiction novel, in 1777. His verbal ease and wit in Salons was renowned. During his travels he became a compulsive art and curiosities collector Finally, he became the first curator of the Louvre Museum in Paris, and one of the founding fathers of museology.
